I just got some watercolors and acrylic paint recently so that I could start painting in my Bible. I felt like I couldn’t quite get the look and colors I wanted with the colored pencils by themselves, especially since often times I’m coloring over words in my study Bible (non-journaling Bible), so I wanted to try painting to see if I liked that better. And the answer is definitely yes!
The first page I did with my new, $5 set of watercolors was paint this sunrise at the end of the book of Daniel. The last verse is a foreshadowing of how one day we will rise in Christ as believers, so painting a sunrise fit perfectly with this verse. I drew the image on first in pen, then did the watercolor. After it dried, I went back over the lines in pen then stamped the words “You will rise.” This is the first watercolor I have done in over 10 years at least, so watching a brief tutorial beforehand really helped.
I love the looks of watercolors, how it can be organic and messy but still so beautiful. There’s a lot of forgiveness with watercolors as an art medium, so this allows me some room to make errors and be able to fix them a bit easier than with a different medium. I had an issue with this page at the end of 2 Samuel. I didn’t plan to put color at the top where the verses are, but I smeared watercolor up there by accident. I fixed it by adding some gray watercolor and then going over it in colored pencil, and I actually like how it came out this way better.
I have also been painting a little bit with acrylic paint (Apple Barrel for $0.50 each at Walmart). I don’t like acrylic as much as watercolors, but it’s fun to get a more solid paint look on the page.
So far I haven’t had any issues of bleed through with either acrylic or watercolor paints, and I am using an NIV study Bible with traditionally thin Bible pages. Watercolor seems to be my favorite so far, which means I definitely see more watercolor pages in my future as I still discover my style. As my first month of Bible journaling almost comes to a close, I have found verses that I didn’t know were there, I’ve seen old favorites in a new light, and I have felt such freedom to express myself through this form of creative worship. I look forward to my Bible reading time, and I feel as though God is renewing me through this process, which has come at a time when I really needed it.
I just recently posted about 
I am currently reading through Genesis, as well as occasionally reading in Psalms and John, so that is where most of my pages are from. I already showed my first page in the previous post, so check it out to see it.
Most of my pages are just colored pencil and pen, but I’ve been slowly adding some stamp ink in, as well as some alphabet stamps.
The next thing I would like to try is watercolor, so that I can add even more color to my pages.
Some of my inspiration comes from social media, and the rest is just my own doodling.
I especially like words/lettering, flowers, and trailing vines. In fact most of the doodling found in my past journals contain one of these elements. 
I am excited to see my illustrating improving and developing the more I practice, as well as my confidence and creativity growing. I just have to say that this experience so far has been an example of growth for me, because this is the most open and public I have ever been with my journaling and personal devotion methods. I am usually a very private person when it comes to my journals, so this has taken me out of my comfort zone. However, it has also helped me to be passionate again about spending time in prayer and God’s word, so I am happy for the change taking place, and I hope that I can encourage others through my openness to be open too and express their faith in new creative ways.
Since I’m a crafty person in general, I was surprised to find several supplies I already had to get started. I pulled out my NIV Study Bible that my parents gave me several Christmases ago, gathered up some colored pencils, and started to draw. I have had this Bible for awhile and it has sentimental value to me, so I was even more excited to make it very personal and expressive of myself. I started in Genesis and I was surprised at how easy it was to draw once I started. I decided to stick with colored pencils and mostly supplies that won’t completely obscure the writing. I mostly draw, color, and write in the study notes section and the margins. 
After a couple of days of illustrating in my Bible with colored pencils, I started hunting around to see if I could find more supplies. Luckily I found two stamp ink pads (Colorbox archival pigment ink), an old used-up gift card, and a felt tip archival pen. I flipped my Bible open to Psalm 103, one of my favorites, pressed the old gift card into the ink pad, and started spreading it across the page. So fun! I had found this technique online and it is typically used with acrylic paints, but it worked great with the stamp ink too, and no bleeding through to the other side of the page either. Same with the felt tip pen–the one I had is one designed for card making, so no bleed through. 
Another easy way that I found to add color and design to my Bible is to print out premade designs, color, then tape in (I didn’t have any glue, so tape for now). This allowed me to use some colored Sharpies too without having to worry about bleed through or ruining multiple pages. 
Lastly, I wanted to have a colorful Bible cover, so I looked up a tutorial on Pinterest, measured my Bible, and started sewing. I used a piece of remnant fabric that I purchased several months ago but was sad to discover wasn’t very big. Thankfully, it was just the right size to make a cover, and I am so happy I was able to put this beautiful fabric to use.
Kountingsheep 